Top 8: Alternative graduation gifts from World Vision’s Gift Catalog

Are you looking for an alternative gift for your recent or soon-to-be graduate? Something meaningful, something that will make a real difference in the world while honoring this milestone in their education?

World Vision’s Gift Catalog has a variety of amazing gifts that you can donate in someone’s honor and make a real-world difference. Here are our top eight Gift Catalog recommendations for your graduate.

Education is a child’s best hope for breaking free from poverty. But without light, they can’t do their schoolwork in the evenings. To help ensure that children have the tools they need to learn, World Vision provides solar-powered lanterns, giving them precious time to study. After a full day’s charging, each lantern provides about four hours of light.

In places like Rwanda, these lanterns have helped improve children’s test scores as well as their overall health. Children cannot only study longer, but families can now enjoy more social time together in the evenings.

A donation of $25 multiplies 10 times, providing $250 worth of school supplies in the U.S. Many schools serving low-income neighborhoods right here in the U.S. are in great need of basic supplies. Help deliver books, videos, pens, pencils, crayons, educational games, sports equipment, and more. Thanks to corporate donations, your gift will be worth 10 times more in its actual impact.

Children around the world love soccer more than any other sport. Yet many children in poverty have never played with a real toy, let alone an actual soccer ball. They sometimes fashion one out of banana leaves or trash. When basics like food and healthcare are scarce, there’s no money left over for simple pleasures.

When real soccer balls arrive, children like Amanuel from Ethiopia are overjoyed. “World Vision is just like a father,” says the 13-year-old, “who tries to make an individual achieve his dream.” Soccer is Amanuel’s passion. “It is not only scoring a goal and entertaining yourself,” he explains. “It is beyond that for me. It is an art … it gives you an opportunity to get acquainted with new friends.”

Poverty, discrimination, and exploitation keep millions of girls out of school. Half of all girls in developing countries don't finish primary school. But thanks to World Vision, girls like Khanha in Cambodia are now in school — and excelling in their education. “I like to learn letters more than numbers,” shares Khanha, 6, who already knows how to read.

This talkative first-grader has fallen in love with school. The backpack, notebooks, pens, and other support she's received from World Vision are helping her take the first steps to her dream: “When I grow up,” she says, “I want to become a teacher to teach others to know how to write, read, and calculate.”

World Vision’s hope for all children is fullness of life. That’s why we take a holistic approach to develop the communities in which they live. Reading, writing, and math are vital to a child’s education, but art and music, too, are essential, providing the fullness that will enrich their lives.

Art and music instruction can be life-changing for a child — cultivating his or her ability to learn, fostering emotional development, and allowing an expression of inborn creativity. For children with troubled backgrounds or impoverished living conditions, providing art supplies or musical instruments can be especially beneficial.

67 million elementary-aged children are not in school, which puts them at greater risk of exploitation, early marriage, and lower income over the course of their lives. All that many of these potential students would need to attend school is a uniform, their school fees, or supplies like pencils and paper.

In Ethiopia, Shelma missed a whole year of school because his parents didn’t have enough money to buy his school materials. “I could not go to school,” he recalls. “I was so sad I was crying.” Thankfully, World Vision provided the books and other class materials Shelma needed. Today he’s back in school and pursuing his dream of becoming a teacher.

Without an education, a child has little hope of breaking free from poverty. Without the support of parents, children face an even greater challenge, both in school and in life. In the name of your graduate, you can instill hope in a grieving child by providing essentials like school supplies, a uniform, and school fees. You’ll help a special child overcome tragedy and reach his or her God-given potential.

A donation of $100 will provide $1,000 worth of school supplies to kids who need them in order to go to school. Thanks to corporate product donations, your gift will multiply 10 times in impact to provide even more resources! You’ll help boys and girls fulfill their potential and break the cycle of poverty.

With World Vision’s My Gift Catalog application, you can create your own personalized fundraising webpage for any special occasion!